After a long innings of two decades as Congress president, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi looks ahead at the forces posing a challenge to the country's democracy and shares her vision for the india of tomorrow.

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India Today

March 15, 2018

ISSUE DATE: March 26, 2018

UPDATED: March 16, 2018 21:17 IST

Photo: Bandeep Singh

Public speaking does not come naturally to me. Perhaps that is why I was once described as more a reader than a leader.

The whole world seems to be in the grip of an epic upheaval. Technology and connectivity are colliding with inequality and insecurity. Societies everywhere are being rapidly and profoundly changed. This is true of our country as well.

Our people are increasingly impatient, ambitious, aspiring and aware. Our institutions are still evolving and need to be revitalised. Governance in the decades since our Independence has seen a continuity and direction rooted in the legacy of our founding fathers. Yet, today, we are being presented with an alternative, and indeed regressive, vision of who we were as a people, what we are and what we should be. This re-imagination is based on a distorted perception of our history, and it is a fatally flawed view of what will secure our future.

Ours has been an open, liberal democracy. It has been representative and participative. It has been fuelled by political competition with due regard to rules, traditions and conventions. Our open, liberal democracy has strengthened the bonds of unity without imposing uniformity. Our republic has not just been accepting of different points of view, but has encouraged debate and discussion. It has allowed for disagreement, dissent and protest. It has demonstrated its capacity for dialogue and compromise.

For years, our public discourse has been anchored in decency, reason and argumentation, and not in invective, innuendo and abuse. What has made our democracy precious is conversation, not monologues; accountability, not shunning any form of public questioning and interrogation.

Our country, our society and our freedoms, all are now under a systematic and sustained assault. This is a well-thought-out project, long in the making, to refashion the very idea of India. It involves rewriting history, falsifying facts, slandering nation-builders and fanning prejudice and bigotry.

Was India really a giant black hole before May 26, 2014? Did India's march to progress, prosperity and greatness begin only four years ago? Is this claim not an insult to the intelligence of our people? This deliberate unwillingness to acknowledge and commend what our country has achieved is nothing but arrogance. This cynical running down of our past accomplishments, which have been a huge collective endeavour of the people of India, is nothing but conceit. It is not a matter of taking credit. It is simply a matter of recognising India's strengths and strenuous efforts over the past decades.

We should all be seriously concerned at how the foundational principles and values of our Constitution are being wilfully shredded. Callous remarks about changing the Constitution point to a deliberate attempt to subvert the essence of India that it enshrines. Provocative statements from the ruling establishment are not random or accidental; they are part of a dangerous design. The evidence of this new and deeply troubling direction is there for all to see.

Fear and intimidation are the order of the day. Alternative voices are being silenced, literally, in far too many cases, through violence, even murder. The freedom to think for oneself, to differ and disagree, to eat according to one's choice, to meet or marry according to one's wishes-all this and more-is under attack.

Where amity and harmony were encouraged, religious tensions are being fuelled. Vigilante mobs and private armies have been let loose with state patronage. There is shocking insensitivity to the atrocities on Dalits and women. Our society is being polarised with an eye to winning elections.

The Indian tradition and way of life has, for centuries, been many-streamed and all-encompassing. That is being subverted. Our very social DNA is being re-engineered. The resulting churn will unleash pent-up frustration, resentment and anger, with devastating consequences.

Individuals can mesmerise for a while, but our republic needs impartial and robust institutions. Long-standing precedents that have stood the country well are being violated. Parliamentary majority is being interpreted as a licence to stifle debate and bulldoze legislation. Political opponents are being targeted through the misuse of investigative agencies. The judiciary is in turmoil. Civil society is being silenced. Universities and students are being straitjacketed. Much of the media is being coerced away from its proper watchdog role, which is surely to expose misgovernance, scams and frauds. RTI was brought in to enhance transparency and fight corruption. Today, that law is in cold storage. RTI activists are being killed. Aadhaar was to be an instrument of empowerment. It's being turned into an intrusive instrument of control. We want to be a knowledge-driven society, but just look at how the scientific temper is being mocked and how rationalists are being eliminated.

The noise of politics is the music of democracy. Yet, that very noise is now being muffled. The pretext is to make India a 10 trillion dollar economy. Yes, of course, we need to move fast, but Fast cannot stand for First Act, Second Think. We have seen time and again in the way decisions have been taken, whether they have to do with the economy or our relationship with neighbours, or the handling of vital security issues and cross-border terrorism.

Does maximum governance mean minimum truth? Does it mean that alternative facts take the place of uncomfortable reality? Take jobs for instance. Everyone knows that the employment situation is grim. But all of a sudden we are told that seven-and-a-half million jobs were created in 2017. As soon as one myth is demolished, another takes its place. The narrative kept shifting as demonetisation took the economy down-river. We saw the chopping and changing that went with the GST, a reform that was first stymied and then implemented in stubborn haste. There was also the belated recognition, although half-hearted, of growing farmer distress.

Reimagining India entails a rededication to the core values and guiding principles of our Constitution, in letter and spirit, in precept and practice. We need to reaffirm our resolve to protect and strengthen institutions and institutional processes. We need to acknowledge that while economic growth must be rapid, it must also be inclusive and sustainable. Most of all, we need to replenish the wellsprings of liberalism and pluralism that have for so long sustained our society.

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